


Anathema

by cover-me-cover-me (red_velvet_wings), milanosbitch



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Adult Language, Everyone lives, F/M, Happy Ending, M/M, Mild Horror, Minor Curtis/Shiro (Voltron), Past Curtis/Shiro (Voltron), Sheith Big Bang 2019, Time gets weird, allura comes back, getting the team back together, mild body horror, post-s8, shiro saves keith, they make up
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-29
Updated: 2019-12-29
Packaged: 2021-02-27 13:13:35
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 9
Words: 17,904
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22017673
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/red_velvet_wings/pseuds/cover-me-cover-me, https://archiveofourown.org/users/milanosbitch/pseuds/milanosbitch
Summary: Keith leaves Earth following Shiro's wedding.Six years later, Shiro is a year out of a divorce when the team gets word that Keith and Krolia have disappeared at the edge of the universe. The team reassembles with one goal: Bring them home.Featuring: Hunk cares about Keith, a space road trip, the edge of the known universe, time getting super weird, ghosts?, and Allura.
Relationships: Allura & Hunk & Keith & Lance & Pidge | Katie Holt & Shiro, Allura/Lance (Voltron), Curtis/Shiro (Voltron), Hunk & Keith (Voltron), Keith/Shiro (Voltron)
Comments: 16
Kudos: 114
Collections: Sheith Big Bang 2019





	1. Before

**Author's Note:**

> This was written for the Sheith Big Bang. I cannot thank my incredible partner [Beggs](https://archiveofourown.org/users/winchestred/pseuds/winchestred) [(Twitter)](https://twitter.com/milanosbitch) enough for her incredible art. It was truly a joy working with her. I couldn't have finished this without her. Her Art really helped shape some scenes that I was struggling with.
> 
> I would also like to thank [Nahi](https://twitter.com/teactoc) for being my Beta again.
> 
> We hope you enjoy!!!!

[](https://ibb.co/VWxJdpB)

“Keith, let us help you.”

“There’s nothing to be done, Hunk.” It was a fight to keep his voice steady. There were only so many things he could fold and unfold to avoid looking back at Hunk’s face. There had always been strength in his openness and desire to help, but Keith didn’t want it. He wanted to wallow. 

“There could be! It’s not too late-“

“The wedding is tomorrow morning.” Keith’s voice broke, and Kosmo whined softly. “It doesn’t matter anymore.” He really wanted this conversation to be over. He zipped up his bag- his room on the ATLAS was officially bare. Hunk moved, made his last play. 

“Do you have to leave? You can stay here with me. You know I love you.” Hunk’s hand was warm on his back, the other keeping his bag firmly on the bed even as Keith tried to lift it. A Hail Mary play too much like the one Keith had uttered years ago. They can't all work. Keith smiled anyway, even though the ache behind his breastbone intensified. Hunk loved everyone, everything, and the words were not empty, not in the slightest. Keith leaned into him, and let go of his bag.

“I couldn’t ask Shay to share you like that. And I know you couldn’t ask that of her either. I know you want me to stay, and I know you care,” Hunk’s arms wrapped around his middle, and it was painfully easy for Keith to hold them there, “but it hurts so much.” 

Keith’s breath caught behind his ribcage, and his throat was so tight that it hurt. Hunk squeezed gently, his forehead coming to rest at the top of Keith’s head. Hunk kissed the top of his head.

“You matter so much, Keith. I’m so sorry. I wish I could make it hurt less.” Keith leaned back against Hunk’s chest. “Will you stay in touch?”

“With you? As best I can.” 

Hunk straightened, turning Keith around. Keith kept his head down until Hunk’s palms fit themselves on either side of his face, tipping his head up. Hunk’s eyes were boring into him, so gently searching out some weakness in Keith's resolve. Keith saw the moment Hunk recognized that there wasn't one. Keith reached up and rested his hands against Hunk's wrists. Calloused thumbs smoothed over Keith's cheekbones, and for the span of a single breath, if Hunk had asked him to stay again he would have. But the breath passed, Keith exhaled, and Hunk kissed his forehead.

“How long will you stay tomorrow?” 

“Mom decides when we leave.”

“Will you say goodbye before you go?” Hunk kissed his forehead again.

“No.”

Hunk let go of his face and wrapped him in a hug.

“Let Shay and I know that you and Krolia made it to Daibazal safe?”

Keith hugged back. “I will.”

Hunk held him for another moment before stepping back, his hands firm on Keith's shoulders.

“I know it doesn't feel like it. But there will always be a place for you here. There will always be a place for you where ever I am, where ever Lance and the Holts are. No questions asked, nothing expected.” 

Keith nodded and ducked his head. Hunk's earnestness was blinding. Hunk squeezed his shoulders and stepped back. “If you change your mind-”

“I won't.”

Hunk nodded and stepped back, the door to the hallway opening. Keith grabbed his bag and Kosmo stepped up to his side. Keith buried his fingers in Kosmo’s fur.

“See you in the morning.” Kosmo teleported them to the ship Keith and Krolia would be leaving on. It was blessedly empty. Keith tucked his bag into the corner and spent a few hours double checking their supplies and going through the pre-flight checklist. This was easy, rote, a routine he didn’t have to think about. When it was finished, Keith kissed Kosmo’s furry head and took his time walking back to his room.

The night was cool, comfortable, and quiet. There was no one else wandering the grounds this late at night, especially with the following day’s festivities. Keith’s path to the ATLAS took him by the venue- a plot of desert rock dolled up with folding chairs and a wedding arch lovingly draped in white chiffon. Keith walked down the aisle, letting his hand  
brush the tops of the rows of chairs. The ceremony would be beautiful. Elegant, clean- perfect. Everything Shiro deserved.

Keith paused under the arch, turning slowly to look out over the rows of chairs. It was beautiful. A sunrise wedding and a party to last the entire day. The type of grand event the world needed as it continued to rebuild, a bright spot of hope and normalcy. Shiro was happy, and in love, and tomorrow he was going to marry the man he wanted to spend the rest of his life with. The beautiful conclusion to a whirlwind romance. 

Keith let himself imagine, for just a moment, what it would be like to stand in the same place tomorrow morning, to say ‘I do’ and kiss the man he loved. 

The moment passed. Pain burned white-hot in Keith’s throat and he closed his eyes. Tomorrow, the man Keith had loved for years, would never stop loving, was going to marry someone else. As much as Keith just wanted Shiro to be happy, his entire being felt like it was breaking. He had been flying between cool apathy and crushing despair since the engagement was announced, and now he begged for the apathy to return. He felt weak with it, pain and sorrow making his legs shake. 

What else could he have done? How else could he have proved himself? Where was he unworthy? Keith had crossed galaxies, the universe, done a thousand impossible things. He had been willing to die with Shiro. And here he was, trying not to cry under a wedding arch alone and despondent. It was pathetic. There was nothing else it could be. Shiro didn’t want him, hadn’t wanted him, wouldn’t have him at more than arm's length for the past year. Keith should have prepared himself better. He had the last three months to move along, move aside. Yet here he was, still desperately wishing that this was some strange nightmare, and he’d wake up, and Shiro would still be calling him his best friend. God, Shiro didn’t even have to love him back. Keith would take a recurring lunch date three times a week and a single hour on the mats and be happy. 

Keith had over a year to prepare for something like this- as daily dinner and twice-a-week sparring sessions turned to dinner every other night to dinner once a week to a monthly lunch that was really just an informal meeting with department heads. It wasn’t even that Shiro was busy, they were all busy- but they had always made time for each other. Sparring twice a week became once a month and then fizzled out to not all- invitations to join him rejected or left unread entirely. Keith had never belonged much of anywhere but could always find space in the crowd Shiro was in until he couldn’t. God Shiro hadn’t really talked to him in weeks- a quick check-in to see if his tux fit, if he’d be okay escorting Curtis’s cousin down the aisle. 

What had gone wrong? No amount of thinking had helped Keith pinpoint what he had done wrong. He had to have done something wrong. This was his fault but he didn’t know why. 

Shiro’s happiness had always been of the utmost importance to Keith. And now, knowing that Shiro was the happiest he’d ever been, Keith wanted Shiro to feel a fraction of the pain he was in. 

The utter selfishness of the thought swung Keith back in to cool apathy. His jaw unclenched, he let his shoulders drop. He stepped out from under the arch and breathed the cool night air. Apathy was easy, something he had spent years and foster homes learning to control, to wield.

Shiro deserved to be happy, whether Keith was part of that happiness or not. Shiro was alive and well, and that was enough. It had to be. Keith shivered and continued back to his room.  
\---------------------------------------------

The ceremony was beautiful. Shiro even more so. They said their vows as the sun breached the horizon, bathing everything in pale yellow. They kissed to thundering applause and a wealth of happy tears. Keith didn't feel a thing. 

Shiro was happy, wrapped in his husband's arms, and that was enough.

The wedding party made their way back down the aisle, and Keith met his mother's gaze over the heads of the guests. She nodded quickly at him, and then turned away, a few Blades following her in the opposite direction of the reception. Time to go. Curtis’s cousin let go of Keith’s arm with a peck to his cheek before running off to talk with her mother.  
Keith began weaving his way out of the throng of people. He felt Hunk’s hand brush his shoulder, but he did not stop. No one called him back into the crowd, no one questioned where he was going. He fell into the group of Blades making their way to the flight wing. About half of the planetside Blades were leaving with him. His mother’s arm was a warm comfort across his shoulders. She didn’t say a word and he was grateful for it.

His mother guided them to Diabazaal, leaving Keith to lay in his room awake. He didn’t want to think anymore. He was just sad and hurting and so, so tired.

_ - _ - _ - _ - _  
TRANSMISSION ORIGIN: RA 16H 23M 35.22S DEC -26° 31’ 32.7” (IBX 467629-472938)  
We’ve reached Diabazaal.  
04:32 LOCAL TIME  
_ - _ - _ - _ - _ - _

Keeping in touch with Hunk was easy. Due to the distance, they talked maybe every other week, and it didn’t require energy that Keith didn’t have. In the meantime, he threw himself into training. Long hours on the mats meant he didn’t have to think, and that was all he wanted. 

Missions were easy- formal. You didn't talk more than necessary, there was no gossip to deal with. Even better, missions were considerably less dangerous now, easier, rote.  
Aid was easy to give. Thankful faces and the signs of rebuilding on faraway planets eased some of the ache, gave him the chance to feel something other than his own grief. He slowly came to terms with it- he would never be rid of it. He would never stop checking in on news from Earth, the ATLAS and her crew.

Hunk filled him in without needing to be asked. 

Keith came back for Hunk's wedding to Shay, and to the Holt's housewarming party on New Altea, and was there when the Blades picked up a contract with Lance's family farm for supplies.

It still hurt- but time helped him hide it better. The nightmares from the clone facility never left, and nightmares from the Kerberos mission failure resurfaced periodically. Shiro was never really out of mind, out of sight as he was.

Years passed.

4 of them, to be exact when Keith felt something. Something that had him sitting up in bed, and kicking off his sheets. His heart was racing. It felt like the Lions- all of them. The Lions laced with something else-

_ - _ - _ - _ - _  
TRANSMISSION ORIGIN: RA 06H 47M 55.73S DEC +70° 14’ 35.8” (IBX 467629-472938)  
Mom and I have taken a mission. Don’t know how long we’ll be. I’ll let you know when we’re back in range. Stay safe.  
18:02 LOCAL TIME  
_ - _ - _ - _ - _ - _


	2. One Year

Hunk was still awake when Kolivan’s call came through. 

It set him on edge immediately- Kolivan hadn’t contacted them in years, and Keith hadn’t been in touch in a year either. Keith and Krolia had left on a mission, way out in deep space. It wasn’t supposed to take this long.

Kolivan almost looked normal- he had always looked serious and on the edge of angry, but now he just looked serious and exhausted. His shoulders were slumped, ears down. 

Something was wrong. 

“Kolivan. Everything okay?”

“I wanted to contact you before we released any information to the public. The mission has been lost.”

Hunk sat down heavily on his workbench.

“Lost? How lost? You guys have trackers on all of your ships. How long has it been lost?”

“We lost contact with them roughly a decaphoeb ago. Numerous search and recovery parties have been dispatched to their ship’s last known location. There is nothing there. No debris, no trace of them. No trace of the quintessence signature they were following.”

Hunk wiped his hand across his mouth, losing focus of Kolivan on the screen in front of him. 

What could they do? How could they help? They could double-check themselves. Pidge and Matt could rig something up. It didn’t sound like the quantum abyss- maybe there was a particle cloud blocking something. He needed to know the layout of the area. Probably a nebula. Maybe- shit, maybe it was the quintessence field, there may still be time to get them out-

“I’m sorry, Hunk.”

“Oh, you don’t get to be sorry, not yet.” He focused on Kolivan again. “You can’t release anything until you give us a chance.”

“The ship is gone-”

“Don’t care. I’m assembling a team. We’ll see you on Diabazaal in three days. You can’t declare the mission lost yet.” 

Kolivan was quiet for a moment before nodding.

“We’ll be waiting for you.” 

Kolivan disconnected and Hunk set his datapad aside and scrubbed his hands over his face. Shit. 

“Shay!-”

_ - _ - _ - _ - _ - _ - _ -

“Matt, it is 6 in the morning. I appreciate being able to sleep on your couch but this is a little much. Can I be let in on what’s happening?”

Matt and Pidge were like a storm tearing through their shared home on New Altea, grabbing odds and ends of tech. They hadn’t said more than “do you think we’ll need this?”, “yes”, and “no. bring it anyway”. 

“Hunk called. Keith and Krolia are missing.”

Shiro sat up and his stomach dropped.

“How long have they been missing?”

“Hunk said they lost contact a year ago. Pidge?” Matt brandished a weird antenna towards his sister, who glanced at it and nodded.

“I’m coming. What can I help you guys pack?”

Pidge and Matt froze and looked at each other. The flurry of activity stopped. Pidge chewed on her lip before nodding to herself.

“Pack some clothes. Grab our datapads. Tell Mom and Dad we’ve been given a mission, we don’t know when we’ll be back.”

Shiro was off the couch before Pidge was done talking, heading to the bedrooms. A byproduct of their time at the Garrison was bug out-bags stashed in closets- Shiro’s own suitcase ready to roll as well. He grabbed the hoard of data pads the Holt siblings owned and stuffed them in a bag, quickly typing out a message to Sam on his own.

We’ve been given a mission. Emergency. Heading out now. You’ll be updated as information becomes available.   
Love,  
Your favorite child, Matt, and Katie

Shiro set the message to send at 8 AM, a more respectable time. It also gave them enough time to get far enough away that Colleen couldn’t come and find them. Shiro dragged everything out to Matt’s personal craft, stowing their bags and starting the preflight checklist. 

They were good on fuel. The propulsion system was operational. Safety protocols were functioning. Fire suppression systems were up to date. They had rations for a week’s journey if need be. Shiro tested the controls in the cockpit. Matt and Pidge started piling things in. Shiro watched the weight of their craft climb and did his best to direct the gear so the weight distribution was even. 

It took an hour for the ship to be loaded. Shiro pushed their message to Sam back 2 hours to compensate- the weight was going to slow them down a bit. Matt and Pidge finally clambered into the cockpit and got settled.

“I take it we are heading to Daibazaal?” Shiro punched the coordinates into the navigation system.

“We’ll be meeting the Blades there to learn more before setting out.” Pidge replied, fingers tapping wildly over her datapad.

Shiro nodded to himself before checking the airspace around them and taking off the second he determined it was empty. Breaking the atmosphere was easy- the hard part was realizing exactly what was happening. 

Keith was gone. How was that even possible? 

_ - _ - _ - _ - _ - _ - _ - _ - _ 

Lance greeted them in the hangar they were assigned on arrival. Shiro noted that he looked well- better than he had the last time Shiro had seen him. Shiro supposed it had been a little over 16 months, and a lot could change in that time. While he looked well, he also looked grave. 

“He knows more than we do.” Pidge grabbed their bags and was the first out. Shiro watched Pidge slug Lance in the shoulder- earning a small smile. Matt clapped his shoulder.

“The quicker we find out what’s going on, the better chance we have.”

Shiro got up and grabbed his bag, following Matt out. Lance greeted Matt with a fist bump and Shiro with a firm handshake. Shiro pulled him in for a hug.

“It’s good to see you, Lance. I wish the circumstances were better.” Lance returned the hug tightly. 

"You and me both," Lance said quietly before stepping away. "Your rooms are marked and where they've always been. I'll let Hunk and Kolivan know that you've arrived." Lance waved as he stepped away. 

Matt and Pidge herded Shiro down to the living quarters, each of them unloading into their assigned rooms. Shiro dropped his suitcase on his bed and then ducked into Matt's room. 

"Why didn't Hunk message me?"

Matt hissed through his teeth, the reaction involuntary.

"Did Hunk know I was staying with you and Pidge?"

"No, he did not."

"Matt. Why wasn't I messaged? Why wasn't the ATLAS contacted? If he had messaged they would have called me back on board."

Matt didn't turn around from where he was unpacking some tech. "Shiro- I mean, come on. You've been busy with ATLAS and your husband-"

"I haven't had a husband for almost a year, Matt."

Matt finally turned around. 

"Listen. All of my information is speculation and second-hand. You need to talk to Hunk about it. We'll be having our briefing soon and you can talk to him after."

Matt went to step past but Shiro grabbed his shoulder.

"What information?"

"This isn't my story to share, Shiro. You need to talk to Hunk."

Matt shrugged off Shiro's hand and stepped out into the hall, heading for the conference rooms. Shiro watched him go, blowing a harsh breath through his nose. 

It wasn’t long before his datapad was paged, directing him to one of the conference rooms. He ran into Pidge in the hall, and they walked in together. 

Shiro could hear Matt laugh as they reached the door. Pidge threw it open and launched herself into Hunk’s arms. Hunk caught her without pausing his conversation with Matt and Lance. The gentle affection of the four of them warmed the room, and Shiro realized how much he had missed it. 

Shiro stepped into the room, shutting the door behind him. Hunk glanced his way. The tension built in the room immediately. 

“Hunk. Good to see you.”

“LIkewise.” Hunk nodded towards him. 

Just as the awkward silence and tension were about to become unbearable, Kolivan stepped into the room.

He looked exhausted. His grief was palpable.

“Thank you all for coming.” He said quietly, starting to lay diagrams, maps, and data on the table. Everyone sat around the table, starting to look over everything. “This was a mission to once again track the source of an odd quintessence signature. Keith had alerted us to it. They had enough supplies to last 2 full decaphoebs. Normally, we wouldn’t be concerned. But we lost contact, the ship went offline. We sent other missions out to their last known location- out on the edge of our universe. It took weeks to get out there. Nothing was found. Just a vast nebula we haven’t found the end of. We’re still in contact with those missions. But we haven’t found anything, and haven’t come across the quintessence signature either.”

“Is there any way they could have powered the ship down, or take it offline without something catastrophic happening?” Hunk asked first.

“No. Our ships are designed to only go offline when they are no longer able to function. If the engine can no longer run, if it damaged to the point of being unable to fly- that is when the ship goes offline. We had stopped being able to communicate roughly 8 phoebs ago, but the ship was still online and we knew where it was located. 2 phoebs ago the ship went offline.”

“And you’re sure there was no trace of them? Not even particles from the ship?” Pidge asked while going over the data the Blades had collected from the last known location of the ship.

“Just enough to show that there had been a ship in the area. Not enough to signal an explosion or any sort of weapon we are aware of.” 

Shiro glanced up at Kolivan who, for the span of a heartbeat, seemed hopeful. Pidge leaned towards Hunk and pointed at some data.

“So we know where they were, but not where they are.” Lance murmured, looking at scans from the area. Shiro picked up the reconstructed flight map- the places they would have stopped to rest or to refuel. They'd have to plot a similar course. They'd need similar supplies as well. 

“Kolivan… what can we expect from you in terms of supplies?”

“You’ll be outfitted with a larger ship, room enough for all of you. A decaphoebs worth of rations plus 2, necessary weapons and our most up to date information. We can provide suits for you unless you have brought your own. We offer whatever we can.”

“I don’t know about you two, but the three of us brought our own suits.” Pidge said, nodding towards Hunk and Lance.

“We brought our own too. So we’re covered in the spacesuit department.” Lance chuckled. Kolivan nodded solemnly and appeared to be chewing over a thought before speaking again.

“Perhaps your Paladin armor is the best choice for this mission.”

The table was quiet now, the gravity of the situation settling like cement.

“When the earliest we can depart?” Hunk asked.

“40 vargas is the earliest we would consider. Some of you have just made a several day’s journey here. To send you out so quickly would be irresponsible. We’ll provide room and board for as long as you’ll be with us.”

“Thank you for your generosity.”

“Thank you for not letting us give up hope.” Kolivan bowed to the group. “If you’ll excuse me, I need to check on the preparations for your mission.”

Kolivan stepped out of the room, the door sliding shut behind him. Hunk nodded to the table.

“It looks like we’re all set then. We’ll depart in 40 vargas. Rest up.” Hunk made to stand.

“Hunk, can we talk?” Shiro asked, feeling a sort of anxious he hadn’t experienced in years- decades even. Hunk settled back down in his chair, and then met Shiro’s eyes. He looked entirely unimpressed and coolly detached.

“Privately.”

Hunk crossed his arms. “I think whatever you want to talk about can be shared with the group. We’re about to go on a weeks-long mission. We don’t have room for secrets.”

The rest of the room looked supremely uncomfortable. Pidge and Lance were staring down at the same start map they had already looked at twice, and Matt was absently leafing through some papers. Shiro sighed and raked his fingers through his hair.

“Would you have called me?”

Shiro heard Matt hiss through his teeth.

“No.”

“Why?”

Hunk narrowed his eyes, and Shiro felt like a child in the face of a disappointed parent.

“Do you even know what you did to him? You pulled away from him, left him, hurt him. Did you expect me to think you still cared? That you would have even come? I’m honestly shocked to see you here.”

Shiro sighed softly, looking away and worrying his hands.

“I didn’t realize what I had done until a few months ago.”

“And what was it that you did?” Hunk sat back in his chair, arms crossed. Neither said anything for a few minutes.

“Well. It depends on how much everyone knows because we might be here for a while if I have to explain everything.”

“Let’s pretend we know everything.” Hunk said.

“Yeah? You know I tried to kill him?” Shiro felt exposed now. Had they all known what information he had been denied? Hunk lifted his chin.

“We know he told you he loved you.”

“Well, I didn’t. All I knew was that he didn’t have that scar on his face before he followed the clone and that we were both bruised to hell when he dragged me back. I didn’t know.”

“You told him you didn’t want to talk about it. You pulled away from him!”

“I hated myself! I couldn’t stand to see that scar and know I had done it! I never wanted to hurt him again. I didn’t remember! I didn’t know! I would do anything for a chance to tell him I’m sorry! I don’t even need him to forgive me I just want to apologize!” Shiro took a steadying breath. “I’ve spent the last year trying to apologize, trying to get in touch with him. I didn’t remember any of what happened at the facility until a year ago- I thought it was a nightmare, but it didn’t feel right. I spent a week agonizing over it before I realized it was a memory.”

Shiro was pacing the room. He hadn’t even realized he had gotten out of his seat. He ran his hands through his hair again, not looking at anyone in the room.

Lance muttered a soft ‘oof’ and Pidge agreed with a sympathetic hum.

“I told Curtis right away. We spent three months in therapy just trying to figure out if we should try to save our marriage or not because now that I knew… I felt like I would be lying to him if I stayed. I think he was already feeling like the marriage had run its course anyway, and I’m glad for it because I can’t imagine knowing I’d hurt him too. I’ve been sending Keith messages weekly since I realized what had happened. At least now I know why he may not have replied.”

He chewed on his lip. The silence of the room was pressing on him. He folded himself into his chair, avoiding eye contact.

“Right now, honestly, knowing that he may never forgive you, how far are you willing to go for him?” Hunk asked softly.

“To the edge of the Universe, across it even, to the end of time. I will bring him home, or I will die trying.”

The room was quiet, silent. It was stifling. God, Shiro would do anything to fix everything he had done. He’d do anything just for the chance. He would do anything even if it was just so Keith could tell him he never wanted to see him again. Nothing else mattered but for the chance to apologize.

“I don’t think he ever stopped loving you.”

Shiro snapped his head up- Hunk’s words felt like a punch to the gut.

“I’m sorry that you didn’t know. It doesn’t change what happened. But I appreciate the lengths you are willing to go for him.”

Shiro nodded. “Thank you.”

Hunk smiled warmly for the first time. “Lance, as much as we all trust you, I think we’re going to let Shiro pilot this one.”

“Fine by me.” Lance smiled.

“First though, Shiro, my man, we need to do something about your hair.” Matt reached out and tugged on one of the too-long strands.

“Yeah man. It’s not quite long enough for a man bun but it’s way too long for your face.”

Shiro laughed. “Fair. Who wants the honor?”

“Oh we’re all gonna have a hand in this.” Pidge said, her smile dangerous.

The next thing he knew, Shiro had been bundled into a bathroom with a pair of clippers and the rest of the team arguing over the correct size.

“Can anyone do a decent fade?”

“Dude, who do you think we are? We’re basically a bunch of military brats who can barely keep our own hair up to code.”

“Oh my god, who cares someone cut it!”

What honestly should have taken 20 minutes tops took an entire afternoon, but the result was perfect. It was clean and short on the sides, with that signature length in the front. It felt right. It looked right. Something settled in Shiro’s bones that had been missing for longer than Shiro cared to admit. He felt lighter.

Hunk squeezed his shoulder before the group headed off to bed.

“After everything, I’m glad you’re here.”

Shiro patted his hand. “Thank you. Let’s get some rest. We’ve got quite the trip ahead of us.”

_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-

In the gentle dawn, just a handful of vargas before they set off, Shiro sent another message to Keith’s datapad. He set his own down in his room and headed out, going to do their last system checks.

Kolivan saw them off, their ship the only authorized departure from Main Port as dawn broke the horizon they left.

“Ladies and gentlemen, you are now free to roam about the cabin.” Shiro announced cheerfully as they exited Diabazaal’s atmosphere. 

Pidge hurled a crumpled up schematic at him as the team broke into laughter.


	3. Time is a Funny Thing

It took them weeks to reach Keith and Krolia’s last known location, slowly making their way forward. Tension built in the ship exponentially. Pidge and Matt started running tests, collecting data from beyond the ship. Their instruments beeped quietly for several long minutes while Shiro inched the craft forward. Hunk drummed his fingers on his thigh and Lance squinted along the horizon. 

Finally, after what felt like hours, Pidge grumbled. She angrily pressed several buttons and the instruments went quiet.

“Okay. This is where everything stopped. I’m not even getting anything from the Blade ships that have been through here.”

Shiro stopped the ship- floating in a nebular cloud just past where the universe had officially been mapped. It was beautiful- a thousand colors and the beginnings of stars spread as far as they could see. 

“The only logical thing is to continue forward.” Matt said softly.

“Wait-” Lance reached out and took the controls. Shiro glanced up at him and saw the blue of his cheeks glowing. Lance changed their path just slightly and then set the ship forward. Shiro took the controls back. He could feel everyone standing behind him, everyone holding their breath. The tension was palpable. The nebula cloud grew darker, thicker, and then suddenly broke. 

Before them was a star- a sun, and around it were the beginnings, or perhaps endings, of planets. They looked across their horizon and saw the stars and galaxies dotting the inky blackness of the edge of the universe. It was mesmerizing but felt distinctly like something they shouldn’t have seen.

“Holy shit.” Matt whispered. Lance reached to take the controls again, but Shiro stood and guided him into the pilot’s chair. CLearly, Lance had a better idea of where they were meant to go. He guided them into one of the nearby star systems, and to a star that looked like it was dying, shedding its outer layers and preparing to destroy the chunks of rock and gas that floated around it.

Lance flew them into the atmosphere of the closest whole planet, guiding them on to the bright side. The sky turned pale blue as they approached the surface- there was definitely running water in the form of rivers and oceans, and something that looked like cities. It looked too tight to land at the city Lance was steering them towards.

Lance veered sharply towards an open field as he began to slow their descent. Something dark and metal glinted at the edge of the field. Lance put them down right next to the BoM cruiser. It looked… decrepit. The cruiser looked rusted, rotted, like it hadn’t been off the ground in centuries. Shiro wanted nothing more than to throw on a suit and run out to check it, to start looking for clues. Matt’s hand was firm on his shoulder.

“We’re still checking the atmosphere.”

Lance’s cheeks abruptly stopped glowing, and he dropped the controls. “I take a nap here.” he whined and promptly passed out. Hunk kept Lance’s head from smacking off the dashboard.

“Everything has gone to shit. This is great.” Hunk declared as he settled Lance back in the chair. Matt hummed. 

“Not quite yet. Very close though. So we have an Earth-like atmo and comfortable temperatures. That’s a plus-”

Shiro didn’t wait for Matt to finish before opening the door, jumping out of the ship and heading for the cruiser. The closer he got the worse it looked. There was rust- Shiro didn’t even know Galran metal could rust- and a thick layer of grime on the glass. He checked the VIN with what Kolivan had given them. 

This was definitely the cruiser Keith and Krolia had left in.

He set to prying open the door- it bent and crumbled under his hands. He gingerly stepped inside, careful that the floor didn’t crumble under him. 

The ship wasn’t empty, but he couldn’t hear any noises or movement in the walls. There was no sign of Keith or Krolia though. No clothes, no helmets, no weapons. The only bones crunching underfoot and resting on the seats were too small to be human. He stepped back out of the ship and sat down in the field. 

He was on the edge of relief that he hadn’t found their remains, but he was also terrified by the state of the cruiser. They had seen ships that looked fine after having sat unattended for 10,000 years. What could have happened for their cruiser to be in that state? He scrubbed his hands over his face. He heard the grass sway as someone approached.

“We’ve got a problem bud.” Matt sat down next to him. “Your little excursion there? Apparently took 3.6 years. We are currently in the fuckiest area of space-time I’ve never thought imaginable. I don’t know how much time we have before we aren’t able to get off this planet. We need to get moving. Did you find anything useful?”

“Nothing useful. VIN matched our records.”

“That’s useful. Mean’s they’re here somewhere. Pidge is going over data as it comes in, Lance is having a nap, and Hunk is staying on board. You and I are going exploring. I have two drones. Let’s go map some shit.”

Shiro brushed his hands through his hair before taking Matt’s offered hand. They made their way towards the city they had seen, stopping when they reached the outskirts. It was all rubble- there were barely foundations in some places.

Shiro was in the middle of getting his drone up and running when the wind picked up. He heard something roar, the sound carried towards them. Matt hummed thoughtfully before sending his drone up. Shiro felt entirely unnerved but did the same.

The area was a wasteland. Crumbled structures, rubble. There were hardly any good landmarks for them to navigate by. Still, he and Matt spent time working on mapping the areas they could walk around, slowly trekking in the direction of the setting sun until hunger set in.

The two stayed quiet as they packed away the drones. The land was so quiet in the setting sun- they hadn’t been bothered by any bugs, no birds chirped. The only indication of animal life were the bones Shiro had come across. It was like the entire planet was just. Deserted. Devoid of any intelligent life. It was unsettling.

When they go back to their ship, they found Pidge and Hunk had set up a temporary perimeter. Pidge waved from where she was taking more measurements and checking out the vegetation. 

“Find anything fun?”

“Nope. Heard something weird but it could have just been the wind. Started figuring out the city layout and where it will be safe for us to look.” Matt went into the ship to drop off the drones and get them charging. 

“So what did you hear?” Pidge asked softly.

“Roaring. Maybe screaming. We only heard it once. Find any wildlife?” Shiro peered over Pidge’s shoulder to look at her readings on the vegetation.

“None.” Pidge paused before turning to look at him. “Listen. We know how stars die. This planet shouldn’t be livable. Especially with time going so quickly here. It’s like. It’s like something is holding it in stasis- protecting it from its own sun. I don’t think we’ll find anything alive here. We only have so many supplies, and who knows what we’ll be able to scavenge from the city. All the plant samples I’ve taken have been functionally dead. They aren’t producing new cells, but the old cells aren’t dying either. Something really strange is happening here. And the passage of time- I need more data for a rough estimate but…”

Shiro pulled her into a one-armed hug. “We’ll figure it out. Is Lance up?”

“Yeah. He and Hunk are working on dinner. We should all go eat.” Pidge powered down her scanner and Shiro went with her back into the ship. 

Dinner was a quiet affair and following dinner was debrief- Pidge shared what she had found, and Shiro and Matt shared the rough map they had constructed. 

“It looks like we can enter here between these two foundations, we came in at about the south end of the city- it smelled like there was a body of water to the north. We’ll do more drone mapping and maybe foot exploration starting tomorrow.”

“Did you find anything else?”

“No.” Shiro shook his head. “But we still have a lot of ground to cover. We’ll keep moving. After a good night’s sleep.”

The team broke up and headed for their separate beds for the night. Shiro took his time winding down, packing away his flight suit and slipping on pajamas. He felt restless here. He had so many questions. If cells weren’t living or dying, they could reasonably be perfectly fine on the planet for however long it lasted. But ships were not made of cells. His arm was not made of cells. Time was passing faster and stranger than he could wrap his head around. He already felt like they were running out of time and it had been a day.  
The idea of how much time was passing made him feel sick. He was looking through Keith’s ship for no more than 10 minutes, and Matt had said their instruments had counted off over 3 and a half years. That was half a millennia every 24 hours. How long would their instruments even last? How long did they have?

With that knowledge- Keith and Krolia had been there for over 100,000 years. 

The following morning the team set out again- Pidge, Matt, and Hunk went to explore for useful vegetation while Shiro and Lance set out to try and map more of the city. Shiro frowned as structures they had just mapped had degraded further, the landscape changing already. Lance was unusually quiet while they set up and got the drones up. They didn’t hear anything while they stood together, slowly working their way over the landscape. This was, perhaps, the quietest Lance had ever been.

“I know she’s here.” Lance said quietly around the same time the drones began to run out of battery. “I could feel her.”

“We’ll find her. We’ll find both of them.”

“We’re just so close. She brought us here.”

“I know. We’ll find them. We just need a few more days.”

Lance went quiet again, the drones softly whirring in the air as they flew back to them. Lance’s made it back first, turning off easily. Shiro’s drone began to sputter and tremble as it came in, and he had to catch it instead of letting it come to rest on the ground. Shiro heard an awful hiss and popped the battery cover off. 

One of the batteries had corroded- it was spitting and bubbling and ready to burst at the seams.

“We literally just picked these up.” Lance said, peering over Shiro’s shoulder.

“Yeah. We’ll have to talk to Pidge and Matt about it.”

If they lost the drones in a day- his right arm tingled and he shuddered at the thought.

“We should head back. See what they found.” Lance helped him pack the drones up and they made their way back. Chances were, they’d lose the other drone overnight. They’d have to work with what they had. 

Matt waved at them from where the other team was coming back to the ship. Lance waved back and they met up as they boarded.

“Well hello friends. How did we fair?” Hunk asked, a basket of something edible under his arm.

“Well. We’re down a drone. We’ll probably lose the other overnight. I think we’ll be on foot from here on.”

“Whoa- how are we down a drone?”

Shiro stepped into the ship last, heading for the dash. “You know how we’ve been here for, I don’t know, 36 hours?” Shiro peered at their instruments, years flying by the minute. “Our instruments read that we’ve been here for about 756 years. Every hour is adding up to 21 years, give or take. So these drones and their batteries are nearly 1000 years old. Organic things seem to be aging statically- not at all. But inorganic material? Not so much.”

The ship was silent. Shiro could practically hear Pidge doing the math in her head.

“I don’t know if the ship will last more than two weeks.” She said quietly.

“We are on a definite time crunch.” 

Matt set down what he was holding. “So then, has the city been changing by the hour? Did it look the same?”

Shiro shook his head. “All the marks we identified yesterday have moved or disappeared entirely. Even without the drones, we might need to pick up and find a different place to settle down in the city. Tomorrow morning we’ll probably find a nice flat spot somewhere.”

“We should definitely do that- a time-lapse video would be invaluable. We could see how a city of similar building blocks to our own breaks down without organic interference. That will be super useful. We should take back samples too.” Shiro stepped away while Matt and Pidge put their heads together about samples, storage, and collection methods.

Shiro followed Hunk and Lance into the kitchen. He was immediately told to wash his hands and pick up a knife to being chopping tubers that looked and smelled very much like potatoes. Shiro lost himself in the snick of his knife.


	4. She's Here

As Matt and Shiro trekked through their section of the crumbling city, something in the distance caught Shiro’s eye- a steeple rose up over the rubble, a rose window devoid of glass. A church. It was surprisingly intact given the state of what they had seen so far. It took Shiro and Matt four hours to reach it- they really should have turned back long before they made it there. The closer they came the more they saw- just the southern facade of the church stood, one lone steeple perched up over the city. Through the empty windows, Shiro could make out an array of colors and shapes inside. Something stirred deep inside him and he jogged the rest of the way, running through the archway.

[](https://ibb.co/9wPkxXL)

There, in the middle of the crumbling sanctuary were the lions, tall and proud. Vines had crept up their legs, but they looked no worse for wear. In the safety of the space between their paws was what looked like a massive crystal. Shiro and Matt walked towards it. Shiro climbed over Red’s paw and felt the little crystal in his arm vibrate. Goosebumps rose across his skin. He reached out slowly and touched the cool crystalline surface and closed his eyes.

He knew this feeling. 

“Allura.”

When he opened his eyes again he was in a field of juniberries, hazy with fog. Resting in the middle of it were Krolia and Kosmo, asleep. Shiro stepped towards them.

“Don’t. This is the only way I can protect us.” Allura’s voice was soft, coming from all directions. 

“What happened? How long have you been here?” A wind stirred across the landscape, and Allura was silent for a long time.

“Eons. I have watched the rise and fall of millions of stars. I watched this planet form and countless civilizations collapse. Longer than either of us can fully comprehend.” Shiro shivered involuntarily. 

“Why can’t I see you?”

“My strength goes to keeping this planet alive. I fear that trying to… solidify myself would spell disaster for us. It wasn’t until the lions came that I even realized I wasn’t entirely dead. It wasn’t until Keith and Krolia came that I realized I was in the same universe I had left.” Allura went quiet again, and Shiro reached down to brush his hands over the flowers at his feet. 

“When we restored realities, Honerva used everything she had left to cast me towards my reality, but I did not know if I had made it here or not.”

“How long has it been?”

“Millenia since Keith and Krolia arrived. To see you here… I do not know how time works here. How long has it been?”

“6 years. Where is Keith?”

“I don’t know. He’s on the planet, and alive. Something has been living here since the last of the civilizations crumbled. It is evil, the entire world’s despair and transgressions taken physical form. Keith is with it- he was in pain too, and it called to him. When it came, I was only able to save Krolia and Kosmo. They’ve been here with me for centuries. Do you know why Keith was hurting so much? What happened?”

“I hurt him. It’s my fault.”

“I wondered why you were not with him. Did you fight?”

“No. I wish I had fought harder for him. I neglected him, and married someone else.”

“Forgive me if I withhold my congratulations. You have come to do what exactly?” Shiro flinched at Allura’s tone- turned cool and distant.

“Apologize. Tell him that I was wrong, and that I lied about what I remembered from our fight, and that I love him too.”

“And what of your husband?”

“We had been having trouble for a while- and I started having dreams. They were memories of my clone. We talked about it a lot and decided to divorce almost a year ago. I’ve been trying to contact Keith ever since, and now I know why he hasn’t responded. He’s been gone for a year. The Blades are ready to call the mission lost.”

Allura hummed thoughtfully. “Who else is with you?”

“Matt, Hunk, Pidge, and Lance. We want nothing more than to take all of you home. I can promise you that not a day has gone by where Lance hasn’t thought of you. Where any of us haven’t thought of you.”

“I can’t help you find Keith, but I can keep this planet going until you find him.”

“Can you tell me where I might find this… thing?” 

“There are tunnels and caverns under the city. It resides there but frequently roams the land. I do not know if Keith is with it there. But he is alive. When the time comes for you to leave, bring Lance to me. I will need him. Until then I need to concentrate and save as much energy as possible. Do you understand?”

“I do.”

“The lions will help you. It will take all of you.”

“I know. We’ll have you home with us soon.”

“Be safe, Shiro.” The mist thickened around him and the landscape went dark.  
.  
.  
.

Matt was staring down at him.

“You wanna tell me what happened there, bud?”

Shiro closed his eyes and relaxed back down on the floor of the sanctuary.

“Allura is protecting Krolia and Kosmo and keeping the planet from disintegrating. Keith is here, alive, but she doesn’t know where. And there’s some kind of evil ghost-monster we have to defeat.”

“Oh, excellent. Just what I wanted. Where is it?”

“Apparently there’s a network of caverns under the city?”

“Suspicious. Think that’s all the growling we heard earlier?”

“Yup.”

“How about you get up and we head back to the ship before we get caught off guard?” Matt kicked him gently. Shiro swatted at his leg before getting up, groaning as he did. 

“How long was I down there?”

“It felt like 10 minutes, but out here who has any idea.”

Matt led them out of the rubble towards the ship point. Hopefully, no one had run into the monster before they could be warned.


	5. The Garden

Hunk, Lance and Pidge trudged towards the water. It was slow going- the rubble was bigger here, Lance and Hunk frequently having to help pidge up and over crumbled walls. Lance was jovial though- cracking jokes and keeping everything a little more bearable.

As Hunk grabbed Pidge’s arm to heft her up onto a collapsed column, Lance gasped. Hunk got pidge up with them and turned and- they had found a garden. It was half reclaimed by nature- weeds and vines tangled among towering blooming bushes and creeping into ponds and fountains. It was beautiful. Hunk was shocked to see so much of the stonework still standing.

He helped Lance and Pidge down and the three began to wander among the pathways. Pidge began collecting- taking leaves and petals and entire flower heads from different bushes- her bag of samples was already almost full. Hunk stayed with her, beginning to fill his own bag. He worked to keep Lance in his peripheral vision. Lance had gone quiet the second he saw the garden, and it set Hunk on edge. 

He and Pidge worked methodically along the main path, Pidge muttering to herself about leaf sizes, colors, textures- carefully sliding each specimen into a bag or bottle before continuing onto the next one. Hunk glanced up again- Lance had his hands cupped around a peculiarly colored bud- it was a dusty pink at the base that darkened to black at the tips of the petals. It seemed to bloom in his hands. Hunk felt a chill pass over him as he watched Lance let go of the flower and move further into the garden. A gentle breeze ruffled the bushes around them- it whispered through the leaves and vines and Hunk would bet 100 million GAC that it said Lance’s name. 

Pidge pressed a handful of specimens into Hunk’s hand. While Hunk was stuffing them into his bag, a breeze came by again, and on it, he swore he heard gentle weeping. Hunk snapped his head up- finding Lance among a hedgerow, following it deeper and away from them. 

“Pidge, I think something’s up.”

She tutted as she passed more specimens over. “There’s nothing here to be up.” Hunk glanced Lance’s way- he was stopped, paused with his head cocked to the side. The wind tousled his hair and blew down the path as Lance began moving forward again. 

Hunk heard the weeping again. “Pidge tell me you heard that.”

“It’s just the wind, Hunk. Who knows what it’s blowing through. It’s nothing.”

Hunk bit his lip. There were goosebumps crawling up over his skin. He turned Lance’s way.

“Lance? Buddy? You good?” His voice echoed strangely among the greenery and fountains. 

Lance didn’t acknowledge him, he didn’t stop, he didn’t turn around, he didn’t answer. The brush next to him rustled as Pidge pulled her head and shoulders out, a jar of twigs in her hand. She tucked them into her bag. “Just let me finish this row and then we’ll go find him.” 

Hunk watched Lance from where they were- and then lost him around a bush. “Pidge I can’t even see him anymore. We need to go. We can’t get split up here.”

“Hunk, there is nothing here to hurt us-” the weeping was suddenly all around them, a gentle lament filling the air. “That’s not Lance.” Pidge said softly.

“That is definitely not Lance.” The two of them sprinted towards the towering hedges. The keening cries grew louder the further into the garden they ran. They ducked around the same shrub Lance had disappeared behind and the two skidded to a stop. 

There were numerous pools, cracked and vine-covered and full. Something black and oily rested in them- the surface occasionally broken by what looked like single drops- but there was no rain falling, nothing around to strike the water. Each pool seemed to have its own cry, starting up again with each ripple on the surface. And there, in the center of all of it is what should have been a beautiful ornate fountain with several tiers of cascading water. 

In front of it was Lance, reaching into the liquid, already elbow deep. It seemed to be crawling up his arms. He was crying too. 

Hunk ran forward again, grabbing Lance’s shoulder, trying to pull him back. 

“Lance, bud, you need to take your hands out of there.” Pidge was beside him now, her arms wrapped around Lance’s middle and pulling gently. The liquid shot further up Lance’s arms as they began to pull him away. 

“I can’t, I can’t-”

“Yes you can, we need to go.” Hunk steeled himself before sliding one of his hands down Lance’s arm, brushing the inky liquid off and grabbing Lance’s submerged hand, pulling it out. Hunk nearly gagged at the feeling of it. Lance immediately tried to reach back in, and Hunk had to hold his hand tight. Lance was crying harder now, weakly fighting the two of them. 

“Come on Lance-” Hunk reached out with his other hand and repeated the process- sliding his hand down Lance’s arm and breaking the thing’s hold on him. Both Lance and the ponds started wailing in response. The liquid began to tremble in the pools and fountains- and Hunk began to smell something not unlike death. The smell was swelling in the air around them. Lance was boneless as Hunk hefted him up onto his shoulder.

“Pidge we gotta go. Now.” 

The two of them started running out of the garden. Hunk didn’t even bother to look back- he didn’t want to know if they were being followed. The wailing was slowly turning to a roar, and he didn’t want to be in the area for whatever happened next. The air reeked as they ran, and Hunk swore he could taste the decay, sticky and wet.

Hunk’s lungs felt like they were on fire several minutes later when they reached the ship. HE couldn’t hear anything over the rushing of his blood in his own ears. He knelt down and shoved Lance off, and heaved into the dirt. Once the rushing of blood died down, his own gasping sounded harsh and otherworldly in his ears. He heard Pidge trying to talk to him, and he swore he could still hear faint shrieking from the thing. 

Someone handed him a water pouch that he promptly choked on before managing to swallow some. Finally, his breath was coming back to him.

“What the FUCK.” he panted, coughing again. He finally sat back, looking over at where he had dropped Lance, finding him with his head in his hands and Pidge staring intently at a specimen jar. Pidge was still breathing heavy.

“I don’t know what it is. But I have some!”

“Lance? Bud?” Hunk coughed again.

It was quiet for several minutes. “Couldn’t you feel it?”

Hunk sat up a little straighter. “Feel what?”

“It was so sad. It was in so much pain. And I just. I felt it. And then I couldn’t let it go. I couldn’t leave it like that.”

“Okay. We’ll talk to Shiro and Matt. They might have found something. If it was hurting that much, then we’ll figure it out together. Was it still hurting when we pulled you away?”

“It was still hurting. And so angry. Hopeless. Maybe angry at itself? I don’t know why I could feel it and you guys couldn’t. I don’t. I don’t even have the words. It almost felt like…. It was almost like losing Allura again. It felt like that.”

Hunk involuntarily rubbed his breastbone. He remembered that pain very well and knew his never cut as sharp as Lance’s. Hunk coughed again before getting up, walking over to Lance.

“C’mon bud. Let’s go wait in the ship. Shiro and Matt will be back soon. I think we all need a breather.” Lance finally lifted his head and took Hunk’s offered hand. Hunk hauled him up and Pidge moved into their space. Lance was crying again- the big heaving sobs that Hunk thought he had heard the last of years ago, and still, he had nothing new to offer to ease the grief.


	6. Down Below

“Hunk this doesn’t make any sense.”

Shiro was staring at the black goo in the specimen jar. It was weeping quietly, nothing like the monster Allura had warned them of, nothing like the creature that chased the others from the garden. Shiro could hear it through the glass. How could something be this docile, and yet be strong enough to carry Keith off, to put the rest of the team in danger? How was this the worst of the planet’s wrongdoings?

“I don’t know what else to tell you.”

“It might have Keith. It’s the only intelligent thing here, right? We were brought here. This has to be the answer.” Shiro chose his words carefully, it would be wrong to reveal too much, and upset the delicate balance Allura had created. Shiro tossed the jar to his left hand as his right arm cramped, curling to a fist and dropping to his side.

“Maybe. It hasn’t changed at all from when we showed you last night. It’s not reacting to anything. And after what Lance said… we aren’t comfortable experimenting with it.”

“I understand. Should we split up again?”

“No. And I think Lance shouldn’t go out again. I think he and Pidge will stay and catalog what we brought back.”

Shiro nodded. “I trust your judgment here. We’ll avoid the gardens for now. We found some writing about caverns… catacombs maybe, under the city. It might be living down there. We should try and find a way down.”

“A solid plan. I’m gonna go lay out the day with Pidge and Lance and then I’ll meet you outside.” Hunk patted Shiro’s right shoulder and it ached. Was time accelerating? Shiro felt like his arm was falling apart faster. After just a handful of days- how long would the ship last? Matt and Shiro had done some repairs the night before to give everyone space. Shiro hadn’t seen Lance look so dead on his feet in years. Grief was not linear but this was a major blow.

Shiro stepped out into the morning sun where Matt was busy stretching.

“Well?”

“It’s us and Hunk today.”

Matt nodded. It was going to be a long day.

A long day turned in to three. The way everything was shifting- the landscape changing so suddenly, they hadn’t found a way into the catacombs yet. Shiro’s arm ached more often than not, and each day something different on the ship needed repairing. Their tools were rusting. 

They didn’t have long.

On that third day, they moved the ship further into the city. They found a map finally- a big stone slab with a carving of the city and its catacombs marked clearly- there were three entrances, one in the hollowed-out church, one buried under a building, and one was in a still-standing building- city hall. The third day was the first day that saw the entire team back together. Lance stuck to Hunk’s side, but he looked better. They armed themselves as they decided to descend beneath the city- Blade gifted blasters that felt clunky in Shiro’s hands. 

The wind blew harshly through what was left of the building- it’s empty windows and cracked doorways echoing oddly. Shiro swore he heard a whisper. Pidge stepped up to it first, scrapping material from the wall.

“Well?” She turned and asked when no one stepped up with her. Shiro stepped up next.

“Let’s head in. Try not to get separated.”

The inside of the building was cavernous. The foyer was huge and echoing. It had certainly been a grand building at one time. The ceilings were several stories up- arched and held up by tall pillars. There was a grand staircase before them, but they didn’t want to go up. They wanted to go down. 

Something banged loudly from further in the building. It echoed around them. Shiro looked around. “First person to find a way down wins.”

“On our 11.” Lance said, pointing his light to a doorway, the door still on its hinges. It swung open a few inches before swinging back. Shiro shivered. 

“Good job, Lance.” Shiro started towards it. The door swung open again. He let out a slow breath. It was just the wind. 

The group made their way down the stairs. It was darker and colder on the next floor. The wind blew down after them, carrying sounds down with it. God, it sounded like someone talking now. It was more than just whispering. 

“Everyone else hears that, right?”

“Yes, Matt. Everyone else hears it. We heard it in the garden.” Pidge said.

They spilled out into the main area of the next floor, and a door slammed to their right. Lance and Hunk both jumped, and Shiro whipped around to face it. 

“I’m getting wicked flashbacks. Anyone else?” Lance asked.

“We have to keep going.” Shiro approached the door, pulling on the handle. It didn’t budge. Shiro pulled harder. He jiggled the handle, tried to use his foot for leverage. Shiro stepped back and blew out a harsh breath. As he went to reach for the doorknob again, the entire door began to shake. It made an awful racket. Shiro watched it.

Something was trying to scare them away. It meant they were getting close. The door finally stopped and Shiro reached out and opened the door with ease. He grumbled to himself before starting down the stairs again. Matt had barely made it across the threshold when the door slammed shut behind him.

Shiro was first onto the next floor again, and he quickly turned the whole room with his light, catching something shadowy slinking off before another door slammed. Shiro chased after it, yanking the door open. Something shrieked at him and threw him back, the door slamming again.

He felt his right arm go numb and it took him a minute to catch his breath, Hunk standing over him, waiting to help him up. Shiro took his offered hand and hauled himself up.

“Shit. It does not want us to follow.”

Shiro stretched a bit, working on getting feeling back into his right arm.

“Matt? You weren’t traumatized by castle ghosts. You go first.” Pidge said, pushing her brother forward. 

Shiro watched as Matt shrugged and approached the door, trying the handle. It didn’t budge. Matt kicked twice at the door before breaking it down. Matt dusted his hands. 

“Onward?” Matt gestured to the door. Pidge grumbled before heading down first. Hunk and Lance followed her down, Matt and Shiro bringing up the rear.

Shiro heard doors slamming again before he even made it down the stairs. Pidge growled loud, frustrated.

“Would you cut it out!”

The doors stopped slamming. There was no sound. No rustling. No moaning. No whispers. Shiro stepped down on to the floor.

“Okay. Which door?”

“I don’t know. They were all slamming. We can’t get split up.” Hunk said, turning on his blaster. “It’s getting more violent the further down we get.”

The sound of the blasters firing up was loud around them and echoed, but did not reveal which door they were meant to pass through. 

“Lance? Any ideas?”

“I can’t feel it. Hunk?”

“Find the door that smells like death.”

Lance moved to the staircase to cover everyone, and everyone else approached a door and gave a cautionary sniff. Hunk gagged loudly.

“Got it.”

Shiro kicked down the door and the smell was like a solid wall. Hunk gagged again. Shiro forced in a deep breath of air through his mouth. The thing was agitated now, angry and stinking. 

He descended the stairs. He didn’t reach the bottom before something flew up at him, tar hitting the wall and bubbling, bursting and amplifying the scent. Pidge shot at it. The thing roared. 

Shiro turned and there was a mad scramble up the stairs. The scent grew thick and choking, and it was coming up at them now. Shiro felt panicked- it was like he couldn’t take a real breath. He reached the top of the stairs and turned and started firing. 

Each hit from the blasters blew the thing to bits, and then it wove itself back together. He could hear Hunk and Pidge screaming, panicking- but he could barely make it out over how overwhelmed he was. No matter how much they fired, it just knitted itself back together and came closer. 

There wasn’t time to talk- Shiro started shoving everyone towards the stairs. They needed more room, to get somewhere with clean air just for a few seconds. Shiro ran up after them, the ooze at his heels. He felt a thick, slimy appendage grab his ankle. 

Shiro rolled over as it dragged him down the stairs. The thing towered over him, yanking him closer, bouncing him down the stairs.

It stopped. 

Everything went silent for a terrifying second, and then it threw what passed for a head back and wailed. Shiro could feel it, it’s emotions consuming him. It was a crushing hopelessness that enveloped him, turned his body to lead. Shiro didn’t even hear Hunk and Matt rushing down the stairs, and startled when they grabbed him.

He had no energy to fight them off. All he wanted was to find out why it was so sad and to make it stop. Maybe if it wasn’t so goddamn sad it would just tell him where Keith was. He watched it shrink back into the darkness, and he heard as the lower floors collapsed. The building shook as he got his legs back under him and Hunk pushed him up the stairs.  
The five of them spilled out into the foyer they entered through and sprinted for the door. The building was crumbling around them. They ran until they were down the block of rubble, the building dropping behind them. 

They all stopped to watch it fall. The group stood there and breathed as the building groaned and toppled, its ruins taking ages to finally settle. 

Shiro sat down in the dirt. His right arm hurt. He could feel where the metal met the skin and he knew that under the suit, there was a problem. He didn’t have time to regroup and try again, however many times it took for them to get further down into the caverns.

“Tomorrow we try the one in the church.” Matt said, clapping his hand on Shiro’s left shoulder. Shiro nodded. 

They didn’t have until tomorrow.


	7. The Depths

Shiro slipped out the moment he heard Hunk snore. Hunk was always the last to fall asleep. This was his last chance. If he went alone, without a weapon, maybe he could reason with it. As long as it wasn’t threatened, the creature seemed docile. 

Shiro quickly made his way to the hollowed-out church, past the lions, and down into the caverns. Shiro followed the winding stone stairs down, looking out into the open center- it was nearly an underground cathedral. He could see, at the floor of the cavern, an opening in the rock and beyond it, a pool.

Here, in the bowels of the city, the thing did not reek. It was still in its cavern pool, just a few ripples breaking its surface. It made no noise, it didn’t act like it knew he was there. 

Shiro walked towards it slowly. It rose slightly, a little mound peeking up over the lip of the rock. Shiro swallowed thickly.

“Hello.” 

It rose a little higher. Shiro felt like a fool, but he was out of options, and out of time.

“I’m sorry to bother you-” 

It lifted itself out of the pool, giving him it’s attention.

“I’m looking for someone. I know he’s here somewhere. Can you help me?” 

If it had a head, it had cocked it to the side, a clear invitation to continue.

“He came here… a long time ago, I guess. With his mother. They were looking for one of our friends. Something happened, some creature attacked them, and he’s been missing since.” The thing rose higher, leaned closer.

“He means the world to me. I… I lied to him a long time ago, that I remembered something important. I didn’t remember it for years, and now that I know- I want to tell him I’m sorry. I’ve missed him so much.”

The ooze slipped out of its cavern, coming closer. Shiro did not shy away from it. It shuddered, the quiet keening Shiro had associated with the times it wasn’t on the attack starting up again.

“He’s crossed the universe for me, entire realities. I haven’t done right by him ever, I think. I’ve come to the very end of our universe to find him. I know he’s here. I’m not leaving until I can take him home too.”

The keening grew louder, and the thing came closer. 

“I know that I hurt him. I would do anything to go back and stop it from happening. I’d do anything to tell him how sorry I am for being so goddamn stupid.”

The keening was broken up by a quiet “shh, shh”. The ooze that was left in the cavern was undulating, restless. The dark mass coming towards him further separated itself. Shiro was definitely getting somewhere.

“I need your help.”

The thing seems to start trilling- soft rolling ‘r’s dropped between the keening and the quiet “shh”. It reached for him.

“You know where he is.” Two slimy appendages landed on his chest. It seemed to stumble as ooze began to drip from it, inching back towards the cavern. Shiro reached out to steady it, his hands sinking into its sides before reaching a solid core. He could feel it breathing. More of the ooze dripped off. The core did not change in his grasp but the shell did, shrinking smaller until it was nearly as tall as he was. Shiro moved his hands up along the core- along the body- in the center of the monster. 

“I need you to tell me where he is so I can tell him I love him.” 

The mass still in the cavern wailed, nearly drowning out Keith crying his name, his mouth the first spot of color underneath the black ooze. 

Shiro hushed him quietly, his right hand holding Keith up as he used his left to start wiping the ooze from Keith’s face. Shiro could hear the other paladins making their way down into the tunnels. 

The mass in the cavern had taken to shrieking, agitated.

The ooze continued to slough off of Keith’s body, returning to its hulking mass. It left a nasty dark stain on his robes and skin. Keith could barely hold himself upright, but that didn’t stop him from holding on to Shiro with everything he had. There was a moment where Keith looked relieved- a gentle smile and soft eyes that threatened to punch the air from his lungs. Shiro was still cleaning him off when the monster reared. 

Panic was setting in, Lance and Hunk were shouting, getting closer, but not close enough. 

“Kill it. You have to kill it. It needs a host, someone to feed off of. It’ll take you-” Keith was talking urgently, trying to turn to face it as if he had the strength to hold it off. 

“Quickly, Shiro. You need to kill it.”

Shiro switched hands, supporting Keith with he left, putting his right arm up to shield them as the thing came down on them. In the span of a heartbeat, Shiro cleaved the thing in two- the black bayard had materialized in his hand as a sword of light. 

The creature crumpled, roared, and stitched itself back together. Shiro started dragging Keith towards the opening to the tunnels. They could use it as a chokepoint if they could just get there-

It reared again, and before Shiro could swing, it was splattered against the back of the cave with a disgusting squelch. Keith collapsed from the weight of a second black bayard turned canon in his hands. The creature was putting itself back together again, slimy globules shrieking individually as they coalesced. 

“Shit, Keith-” Shiro had to change his grip, struggling to continue dragging Keith out. It was coming for them again, faster this time.

“Go, leave me here, I can-”

“I didn’t come all this way just to leave you again. We’re getting out of here.” Shiro hefted Keith up again, slipping on a clump of goo. It screamed and squelched quietly under his boot. Shiro’s stomach turned a bit. They were almost there-

“SHIRO?!” Hunk and Lance yelled down the hall. Keith settled himself a little more evenly across Shiro’s shoulders.

“BAYARDS OUT,” Shiro yelled back, finally making it out into the hall. He saw Pidge and Hunk a few levels up.

“Got your 6!” Lance called out, scope already trained on the narrow opening.

Shiro ducked around the solid wall of the cave, setting Keith down. Shiro ignored the bright flashes of Lance and Hunk shooting through the narrow opening.

“You okay?” Shiro brushed Keith’s bangs out of his face, trying to catch his breath. Keith smirked, but it didn’t reach his eyes.

“A little winded there, old man?”

Shiro cupped his cheek.

“Look at me. I meant everything I said. I’m sorry for the last 6 years. We’re all making it out of here. All I need you to do is stay alive.”

Keith’s eyes raked over him for a moment before he nodded. Shiro looked back at the monster. With each hit from Lance and Hunk’s bayard, it would pop, fall apart, and then knit itself back together. The stink of rot was swelling around them.

“Now what do we do!?” Pidge yelled from further up in the tunnels. 

“We have to kill it. It’s- It’s all the darkness from this world. I think we’re going to have to cross the streams!” 

Keith slugged his shoulder and Lance shrieked “How dare you use a Ghost Busters reference!” 

Shiro picked Keith up, leaning him against a pillar of rock.

“You steady?”

Keith nodded as his bayard transformed back into a cannon. Shiro stepped out into the fray, the black bayard turning into a heavy gun.

“Pidge? I hope you have a gun or a cannon of some sort up there.” She appeared next to Hunk, a cartoonishly tiny pistol in her hands. The blast from her pistol echoed in the cavern, knocking earth loose from the ceiling. The thing splattered again- it bubbled and spit and screamed as it reformed. The creature swung out and knocked Shiro into the far wall. Everyone else started screaming and Shiro struggled to catch his breath for a moment, his right arm entirely unresponsive.

Shiro caught sight of Keith stepping away from the pillar, shooting at the beast again. Shiro rolled onto his side as quickly as he could. He got his hand on his gun. Shiro hauled himself up, his right arm coming back online. He shuddered as he hefted the gun upon his shoulder.

“READY?”

Shiro barely waited for confirmation from everyone before giving the command to fire. 

The light was blinding, and the sound was incredible as all the bayards fired. It couldn’t have been more than a tenth of a second before they were all blown back by the force of the creature combusting. Shiro was tossed end over end into the far wall. It took him a second to get his wits about him, counting off and making sure everyone was accounted for. He picked out Lance and Hunk easily, and then Pidge crumpled between them but moving. Which left Keith.

Shiro looked to where he had last seen him, and then along the wall he was currently resting against. The cavern was eerily quiet beyond Hunk making sure everyone’s limbs were attached. 

Shiro had rolled to his feet before he even registered his own movement. Keith was slumped in a heap about 20 yards down from him. Shiro felt like he was moving through honey as he made his way to him.

Keith was a dead weight in his arms. 

"CHRIST." Lance laughed, slumping along the far wall as he tried to get up. Hunk and Pidge laughed too- exhausted but no doubt elated to be alive.

Shiro gently lay Keith out on the ground. Shiro tried to hold his breath- he couldn't hear Keith's over his own. A gentle shake- no reaction. God, Shiro couldn't feel his chest moving.

"Keith? Keith, talk to me."

Nothing. His eyelashes didn't even flutter. A harder shake.

No one was laughing now. 

Shiro slid his fingers along Keith's neck, jammed them along his jugular- 

Shiro was choking on his own panic, drowning in it. 

Keith's pulse fluttered against his fingertips. Shiro managed to take a breath before lifting Keith's shoulders, letting his head fall back. He still wasn’t sure if Keith was breathing.

"God, Keith, come on-" He rubbed roughly over the breastplate of Keith's uniform. "Come on, you're okay-" 

Keith's gasp was loud and ragged as he moved in Shiro’s arms. Shiro kept rubbing over his chest. "That's it, keep breathing, you're okay Keith-" 

Keith began coughing and continued to gulp down air. Shiro propped him up on a bent knee, cupping his face.

Keith's eyes fluttered open at the touch.

"Hey, just rest and keep breathing. We're gonna get out of here soon. I just need you to keep breathing." 

Keith leaned into his hand and nodded, closing his eyes again. Shiro brushed back his bangs and pressed his lips to Keith's forehead, collecting himself. 

A rumble filled the tunnels.

The ground shook beneath their feet. There was no shrieking to disguise the sound of the world crumbling."Guys, we gotta move." Hunk called, picking Pidge up. Shiro glanced up- noticed how much closer to him and Keith they all were. Lance was up and starting to move towards the upper levels of the tunnel.

Shiro hefted Keith up on to his shoulders as gently as he could and started back the way they had come, moving as fast as he could. Lance was practically jogging up the tunnels ahead of them, and being vocally uncomfortable being underground as it crumbled.

“Lance? How are you doing?"

"Doing great! A little out of breath and probably low on quintessence."

"Great. Get up to that crystal in the center of the Lions. We won't be too far behind. Get your girl back, we're gonna need her."

Shiro heard Lance pick up his pace. 

"I'm going to beat the shit out of you later for not telling me sooner."

"The crystal form is the only reason this planet survived as long as we needed it to. She asked me not to tell you." 

He heard Lance grumble as he continued up the levels. 

"Hunk? Pidge? You guys good?" Shiro paused to readjust Keith. 

"Hunk gives the best Piggyback rides. I feel like death. Hunk?"

"We're getting there- exhausted. I forgot how draining the bayards were." Hunk huffed, and Shiro could hear how tired he was. 

They steadily ascended the ring of tunnels, and Lance called out his approach to the exit. Shiro lost sight of Hunk and Pidge- they were above him and too far ahead. Keith kept slipping down Shiro's back, out of his arms. Shiro could feel his right arm struggling, the skin against the metal tearing. This had to have been too much for the fragile tech. He could hear as the tunnels below them started collapsing, and panic was setting in again. Shiro gave up on trying to carry Keith any sort of delicate way and slung him over his shoulder. His right arm couldn’t help him much anyway.

He didn't know how long it had been- surely Hunk and Pidge had made it out. He wouldn't have been able to hear them over the falling rocks and his own harsh breaths. He risked looking down the caverns- 

There was a flash of blinding light and the stench of ozone and Shiro found himself on the floor of Black's cockpit, Kosmo panting in his ear and Krolia pulling Keith off of him. 

Shiro scrambled up and into the pilot's chair.

"Sitrep everyone. Pidge?"

"Matt's with me. We're ready."

"Yellow's good to go."

"Red is ready and Blue is coming online now."

Shiro glanced out and watched as Blue lit up, and Allura's comm came online.

"Let's get out of here." 

Just hearing Allura's voice settled Shiro's heart.

Black didn't wait around, taking off almost before Shiro got his hands on the controls. 

"I've got one wormhole in me. Where are we going?" Allura called out as they broke the atmosphere, the planet beneath them turning to lava and smoke.

"Diabazaal is closest but I don't know if even you have the energy to get us there."

Shiro could feel Allura's confusion through the bond with the Lions at Matt's words.

"We will explain later we promise- just try and get us as close to Diabazaal as you can. It's in the same place. And we have to get through the nebulae clouds first." Hunk explained. Shiro let everyone else talk it out, turning around to look back at Krolia and Keith. 

Krolia was gently trying to wipe more of the inky black ichor from Keith's skin.

"Is he still breathing?"

She flicked her gaze up at him for a second. "He is. What is this stuff?"

"I don't have a good answer. A parasite- Allura said it was born from the hate and misdeeds of the planet. We killed it."

Krolia hummed softly and Keith coughed again.

“There should be some water in here.” Shiro said softly, turning back to watch where they were going. They were quickly approaching the nebula- much faster than anticipated. He heard Krolia shuffling around behind him. He glanced back again, finding Keith sitting up against the far wall. Krolia was still digging through a cabinet, making a soft noise of triumph when she found several water pouches. Keith smiled tiredly at him before Krolia came back to him. Krolia slid a water pouch along the floor to him. 

Shiro tried to grab it with his right arm, but it didn’t move from the armrest for several seconds. He knew it was going to be a problem, but not one he wanted to deal with yet.  
It had only been maybe half a varga, but it felt like forever before the reached the nebular cloud. Shiro checked back in with everyone as they made their way through.

“How are we doing? Everyone had something to drink?”

“Pidge is napping right now. She’s had some water.”

“I wish I could nap. But yeah, I got some water. I don’t know how she did it, but Yellow managed to pop it out of the dash so I didn’t even need to move.” 

“Red’s got me covered.”

“I feel great. Blue was very lovely and had water waiting for me. How much longer in this cloud?”

“Not long.” Matt said- Shiro could hear the quiet shuffle of him stepping away to go wake pidge. The comms went quiet. 

Another 15 doboshes and the nebular cloud went thin and wispy, and Matt announced over the comms that times had stabilized. They were back.

A wormhole opened in front of them and flew into the swirling colors.


	8. Triumph

The end of the wormhole opened, and the Lions shot through- coming out just beyond Diabazaal’s furthest moon. Well within direct comm range.

“Katie Holt with the five Lions of Voltron requesting a clear flight path and permission to land.” She sounded remarkably cheery for what they had just been through.

Shiro was mostly unfamiliar with Galran swears, but the tone of the comms officer was unmistakable as he shouted. Noise erupted over the line.

“Clearing a flight path. What’s your ETA?”

“8 doboshes to the Main Port. Are we clear to land?”

“Runway 3 is clear for you. All air traffic has been stopped in the vicinity. Medical on standby.”

“We have 2 confirmed for Medical. Please alert Senior Commander Kolivan and Senator Coran of New Altea.” Shiro added. He heard Krolia hiss behind him- “I don’t need medical.”

“Mom, if you don’t go yourself I will have Kolivan take you.”

Keith’s voice, as rough as it still sounded, was a balm on Shiro’s crawling skin. They had done it. Keith was home, and safe. And not only Keith but Allura, too. She was alive, and well, and with them.

The minutes it took to reach Diabazaal, to break through the atmosphere were agonizing- but the feeling of the others and their Lions flanking Black was a comfort that settled deep into his bones. He could feel the exhaustion tugging them all down, but they were all alive, and he could feel the hum of their quintessence thrumming against his own.

Runway 3 was lit up for them as twilight was settling over the main port.

Waiting just inside the hangar doors were hundreds of people watching them come in. The closer they came, the more familiar faces Shiro could pick out- the Holts, Kolivan, and by some magnificent stroke of luck, Coran.

Pidge announced their landing as the Lions’ paws met solid ground.

The Lions were rushed by bodies before they had come to a full stop. Shiro brought Black to rest, seeing the sea of people converge on the Lions.

Shiro stood then, turning back to Krolia and Keith. Krolia was struggling to get Keith on his feet. She was out of breath and frustrated.

“Why do I feel like I’ve been laying down for decaphoebs?” She asked angrily, trying to sling Keith’s arm over her shoulders while Keith protested quietly. Shiro stepped towards them, willing his right arm to last just a little longer. The metal fused to the skin of his shoulder was getting more painful by the second.

“Because you were. Please, let me.”

Krolia regarded him for a moment before nodding, using Shiro’s left shoulder to get herself upright while he bundled Keith into his arms. Keith did his best to help- but Shiro could feel the exhaustion and effects of the last few hours leeching off of him and the ilk left on his skin had turned slick, making each movement more precarious. Keith wrapped his arms around Shiro’s neck, and he could the slime on his skin. Keith groaned as Shiro finished getting him settled in his arms. Shiro was relieved when his arm held the weight.

“Okay?’

“I really don’t want to throw up on you.”

“Does your head just hurt or is there a problem with movement?”

“Both.” Keith said quietly, closing his eyes as Black shifted and lowered her mighty head. Krolia leaned against Shiro for support as they made their way down the ramp. They were slow going, Shiro trying not to slip and Krolia working to stay upright. Kolivan met them halfway, scooping Krolia into his arms.

“Stars, I thought I had lost both of you.” He said quietly, an unfamiliar amount of emotion choking his words.

Shiro was shocked to have heard him at all- he had seen the mass of Blades and humans alike. He was expecting the jubilant cries of a crowd but was met with quiet. It wasn’t eerie though- it was reverent. It was the silence of a crowd in the seconds before they realized they had witnessed a miracle.

They stepped down on solid ground, and Shiro looked across the Lions.

There, in front of Blue, were Coran and Allura, holding each other tight. Shiro could practically see the grief melting from Coran, joy taking its place. Coran kissed Allura’s forehead before taking a step back. For the first time in years, he smiled and it reached his eyes- lit his whole face. He brushed his thumbs along her cheeks, wiping tears away. She reached up and returned the gesture, talking softly, a soft smile on her lips. Allura took both of Coran’s hands and the two turned to the gathered crowd.

There was a joyful noise unlike anything Shiro had heard before, and he had been there when Keith had stepped back into Black to chase this body down. This was triumphant- it shook the ground and it shook his soul.

Keith flinched at the sudden roar of the crowd, tucking his face into Shiro’s neck.

Kolivan and Shiro picked up their pace, seeing medical coming for them.

Shiro gently laid Keith on the waiting bed and he slowly curled onto his side, covering his ears.

“Tell us everything.” Shiro recognized one of the chief medical officers- Dahntear- leaning over Keith.

“It can’t have been more than a varga since we got them. Krolia has been in some sort of stasis for an indeterminate length of time. Keith was being used by some sort of parasite- it was keeping him in stasis as well, but inflicted damage when we managed to get him out. He was knocked out for a little bit, definitely concussed- and I think he just got the wind knocked out of him but he hit the ground hard and it took a while to get him breathing again.”

“Did he regain consciousness?”

“Yes. It’s too loud for him here.”

She nodded and waved the other medical staff on, setting a quick pace forward. She was already barking orders.

Shiro and Kolivan followed the gurneys into the base, having to walk quickly to keep up. Keith relaxed once they were inside and away from the noise.

“What’s on his skin?” Dahntear asked sharply.

“It’s leftover from the parasite. He needs to be cleaned off.”

“You’ll all need to be processed through decontamination. Don’t touch anything else. We’re all going to have to go through. Mellig, I need you to make an announcement. Anyone who has touched the Paladins or the Lions needs to proceed to decontamination immediately.”

Shiro had to hold back his retort- he didn’t want to leave Keith’s side, and there was no way they’d all be allowed through together.

Shiro and Kolivan were quarantined at the next corner, stopped by Blades while the contaminant message went out. The two were ushered off to the nearest decontamination room, forced to strip out of their armor, clad only in their inner fight suits. Shiro struggled- his right arm seemed to be finished cooperating with him, and the process left him sweaty and uncomfortable.

Kolivan didn’t say a word while the cleaned and dressed. He didn’t say a word until they were back out in the hall of the Main base.

Kolivan reached out and clasped Shiro’s shoulder.

“Thank you for helping bring them home.” 

“Thanks for giving us a chance.”

Kolivan squeezed his shoulder before heading towards his quarters.

Shiro waited in the hall for the other Paladins, leaning back against the cool metal of the walls.

Lance, Hunk, and Coran spilled out next, quickly followed by Pidge and Allura from a separate room.

Allura ran and lept into Shiro’s arm, squeezing him tightly. He squeezed back as best he could, lifting her off the ground with his left arm. He was winded by the time he set her down.

“You saved us again.” He said softly, pressing a kiss to her hair.

“Third time’s the charm.”

“It’s so good to see your face again.”

“Have they let you see either of them?”

“No. they split Kolivan and I off and sent us through separately. They’re both going to be okay.” Shiro smiled down at Allura, and she looked up at him for a moment before frowning, her attention shifting from his face to his right arm. She took it in her hands and opened it, popping the crystal from her crown out. A phantom pain lanced up the absent arm and became a very real pain in his shoulder. He watched as she squeezed and the metal warped under her hands. She tossed it aside and shoved the sleeve of his suit up and hissed.

The Holts and several Blades spilled out into the hallway next, their jovial noise suddenly grating. Allura’s hand was cool where it rested on his shoulder. Shiro leaned against the wall again.

“Sam, Matt! The shoulder needs to come off NOW!” Allura barked at them.

Shiro glanced up and saw Matt and Hunk’s eyes go wide. Hunk was there first.

“Why didn’t you say anything?” 

“I didn’t start having a real problem until down in the caverns. There wasn’t time to say anything.”

Matt was there next, he ripped the suit at the seam of the shoulder.

“Let me save a little dignity, will you?”

“The metal isn’t degrading years by the second anymore, but it’s still rotting. Shit.” Matt was prodding at the seam of metal and skin and it burned something fierce. Shiro glanced up and saw Sam coming down the hall with another medical team. 

Fantastic.


	9. Talk. Nap. Readjust.

Shiro woke up groggy in a room sometime later. Allura was leafing through a travel magazine next to the bed.

“Hey.”

“Hello.” Allura helped him sit up and gave him a glass of water. “Any pain in your shoulder?”

Shiro drank deeply before shaking his head. “Not feeling a thing.”

“They used a special analgesic to keep it from hurting. You’ll need another dose every 10 varga or so until the tissue heals up.”

“How’s everyone else? I didn’t think I’d see you alone.”

“Everyone else is sleeping. I had so much energy going into protecting the planet that I have no use for now. I couldn’t sleep at all. Figured I come down and wait for you.”

“Thanks. I appreciate it.”

“Matt says they’ve been working on a new arm?”

“Yeah. They’ll have to build up the shoulder though, won’t they?” Just the thought of what was left of his shoulder made his stomach turn. Allura hummed noncommittally.

“Have you seen Keith or Krolia?”

“I talked to both of them for a bit. They’re positively exhausted. Hunk dropped by with Keith’s datapad and he asked both of us to leave. I went to go rest with Lance but. I’m too restless. I didn’t want to keep him up.”

“And how are you, Allura?” 

She set her magazine down and really looked at him.

“I don’t know. I feel like I’m dreaming. Not just seeing all of you again, but Altea and,” Allura’s eyes flicked around the room, “here. These places that I never thought I’d see again. They were destroyed. I didn’t know they could come back. And to begin to understand the last 6 years, and to fit them in with what I experienced- It feels like far too much. Not to mention getting used to a body again.”

“That will take some time. But it will happen.”

Allura reached out and took his hand with a smile. “Thank you. I may be coming to you a lot these next few movements. I know the topic may be hard for you, but I’ll take any advice you have.”

“It helps to pick a person and follow their schedule. Eat when they eat, sleep when they sleep. You’ll forget to otherwise- you’ve forgotten what those needs feel like. I know you say you aren’t tired, but when was the last time you felt the need to sleep? DO you remember what it felt like to be tired?”

Allura was quiet for several moments.

“I suppose I don’t.”

“Go back to Lance. Even if you don’t sleep, get used to the feeling of a bed and sheets again.”

Allura smiled softly before getting up and pecking his cheek. “5 more vargas to sunrise Shiro. You should sleep more too.” She helped him lay back down, and he was asleep before she closed the door behind her. 

When Shiro woke again, he was lucid enough to realize what exactly had happened. It turned his stomach and left him breathless. They didn’t just have to take the shoulder off- the cuff was anchored to bone. There was nothing left of his right side. Shiro heaved at the thought. Matt was there, gripping his hand tight.

“Hey, it’s okay. You can’t see anything. Dad and I had a shoulder pad ready. You can’t tell. There’s plenty of tissue to fit the next arm. And we won’t have to take it off for about a week, we took all the measurements while you were out. You’re fine.”

Matt stayed with him through the ensuing panic attack. It felt like hours before he could take a full breath.

“There we go. We can get you some tranqs if you need them. I wouldn’t blame you for it.”

He wanted to roll his shoulder, to do anything with his right upper body but there was no movement. There was no sensation except for the vague feeling of tightness and some sort of pressure in places that didn’t make sense. 

Shiro squeezed Matt’s hand for a minute before blowing out a harsh breath. “I can do this. Just as long as I don’t think about it, I’ll be fine.”

“That’s a tall order.”

“I am well aware.”

“Listen. I stopped in to check on Keith. Hunk just brought him his datapad. He kicked us all out but not before asking that we send you down at some point. So. He’s waiting for you.”

Shiro suddenly felt panicky again.

“We can sit here-”

“Nope let’s go before I lose it again.” 

Matt helped him up, and they slowly made their way two doors down to Keith.

“Should I go in with you…?”

“No. I’ve got it from here. I guess I’ll let you know how it goes?”

Matt patted his shoulder and stepped away. Shiro took a steadying breath before entering the room.

Shiro breathed a sigh. Keith was asleep. There were bags under his eyes but he looked relaxed. Shiro’s stomach turned a bit as he realized he couldn’t remember if Keith had ever looked this relaxed in the years after the war. Shiro stepped into the room and shut the door behind himself, quietly folding himself into one of the chairs next to the bed. In Keith’s lap was a datapad- it looked like he had fallen asleep reading.

Shiro was careful to not disturb Keith as he picked up the datapad. The screen blinked on at the movement, and Shiro’s heart stuttered in his chest when he recognized the words on the screen.

“I don’t know if any of these are even reaching you or if they ever will. And I know I sound like a broken record at this point. We just finished our last meeting with Kolivan. We’ll be heading out in about 10 vargas. I swear on my life we will bring you home.”

It was the last message he had sent to Keith’s datapad before they left to find him. Shiro swiped through the previous messages and found that every single one he had sent over the last year had been read. Shiro swiped through them again to make sure.

Shiro set the datapad on its charging dock. He reached over and pulled the blanket up, covering Keith. He settled in to wait. He wanted to be there when Keith woke up.

It wasn’t too much later when Keith stirred. Shiro sat up a little straighter in his chair. Keith rolled on to his side with a sigh, stretching before finally opening his eyes. Keith froze when he caught sight of Shiro in front of him. Shiro froze too. 

Keith slowly started to sit up. Shiro panicked.

“Oh-oh, you must- you must still be exhausted. I’ll come back-“

“Don’t you dare leave.”

Shiro slowly sat back down. Keith readjusted himself, using a pillow to prop himself up instead of sitting up all the way. Shiro cleared his throat.

“Hi.”

“Hi.”

“So uh. We added a bunch of new trauma to the table huh? That was fun.”

“That’s a word for it.” Keith snorted.

“I’m sorry.”

“I know.”

“I didn’t know.”

“I know. Imagine my surprise when Hunk brought me my datapad and I found there were 63 messages from you. From 5 years of zero meaningful contact to weekly messages, I was a little shocked.”

“I’m sure it was a lot to read through.”

“It explained a lot.”

“I didn’t think any of them ever made it through.”

“What would you have done if they hadn’t?”

“I may have them all memorized. I was going to start from the beginning.”

Keith hummed softly.

“I’m sorry.”

“I know you are.”

“What do we do now?”

Keith turned and stared up at the ceiling.

“I don’t know.” Keith chewed on his lip for a minute before speaking again. “There are a lot of things I want to do. Probably more bad ideas than good ones right now. But mostly, I just want neither of us to get lost again. I know for you it’s been about a year. But I spent- I spent centuries missing you.” Keith closed his eyes.

“Never again, Keith. I swear.”

“Don’t make promises you can’t keep.” Keith reached up to cover his face, his face turning a blotchy red.

Shiro reached over and took of Keith’s left hand, holding it tight. “ You told me ‘as many times as it takes’ once. As many times as it takes Keith, I will find you. I’ll do everything I  
can to prove that to you. I’m sorry I left you. I’d die before doing it again.”

Keith squeezed Shiro’s hand. Shiro smoothed his thumb along Keith’s knuckles. Tears leaked from the corners of Keith’s closed eyes.

“Listen, I can’t take back what I did to you. And I can’t expect everything to go back to the way it was. I’m not sure I want it to. After everything that’s happened- We’re not the  
same people we were. We still need to get to know each other again, but I don’t want to spend any more time away from you than I have to. If you’ll let me.”

Keith didn’t let go of his hand but didn’t say anything for a long time. Shiro sat quietly, occasionally rubbing his thumb over Keith’s knuckles. Keith would squeeze back each time.  
Keith finally took a deep breath, blinking his eyes open. He squeezed Shiro’s hand again before speaking. “Of course I’ll let you. At the same time that I want to say that we need time, I feel like enough time has passed that we wouldn’t exactly be rushing into anything.”

“Let me woo you?”

Keith barked a laugh. “Woo me?”

Shiro squeezed his hand and kissed his knuckles with a smile. “Yes. We’ll go on dates. Hunk and Shay can chaperone. Or Lance and Allura. We can have triple dates. And then we can go from there.”

Keith smiled. “Okay. We’ll go on dates. After we’re both discharged. What do we do until then?”

Shiro smiled too. “Talk. Nap. Readjust.”

Keith hummed softly, still smiling, a blush soft on his cheeks. “Can I be forward?”

“Of course.”

“Share a nap with me? Seeing as we’ve already checked talking off of your list.”

Shiro chuckled.

“Sure. Let me just tell Hunk and Matt where I am.” Shiro picked up Keith’s datapad and sent out his message.

“Would they be looking for you?” Keith asked softly.

“Maybe. I think I’ve bought us a few hours though.”

Keith slouched down on his pillow, his long hair splaying around him. Shiro watched as he went to give Shiro the right side of the bed, and the appraising look that followed as Keith really looked over him.

“Where would you like to be?” Keith asked softly, gently.

“I have to lay on my back on the left side of the bed.”

Keith moved gracefully, rolling onto his side, pulling an elastic off the bedside table and wrapping his hair into a hasty bun. Shiro took a breath before approaching the bed, carefully lowering himself in. The skin on his right shoulder pulled with the movement.

Keith’s head came to rest on his bicep, and his hand on his chest like it belonged there, had always been there.

“Hunk said there was a problem with your arm.”

Shiro swallowed audibly.

“Yeah. The metal degraded. Once the tissue heals, Matt and Sam have a new one to put on. Their own version of the Winter Soldier arm.”

Keith melted into his side.

“You like the new design better?”

“So much better. I appreciate what was done with the materials we had to work with, but I am glad that it’s gone. I just wish it could have been removed differently.”

“I’m sorry.”

Shiro closed his eyes and wrapped his arm around Keith.

“I thought we were going to nap.”

“We had to get in a little more talking first. For the record, I forgive you. I forgave you a long time ago. And myself. I blamed myself for years. That it was somehow my fault. But I know it wasn’t. We both made mistakes. But it’s okay. We’re okay. You should forgive yourself too.” Keith said softly, gently brushing his hand down Shiro’s chest. Shiro let out a breath.

“Thank you, Keith. I don’t think I deserve it.”

“I don’t think this one is your call.” Keith said softly. Shiro couldn’t help chuckling.

“Okay. I’ll work on it.”

“Thank you.” Keith wrapped his arm around Shiro’s middle and it was enough. They would be okay. They had time. And Shiro loved Keith, and Keith still loved Shiro.

Shiro loved him so much. Having Keith back in his arms settled his heart, and now it was time for rest.

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading!!!!
> 
> \- [Azryael (Cover-me-Cover-me)](https://twitter.com/coverme_coverme)


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